“Hey,” said Galoots. “Sorry about all that. I recognize I have issues and it’s hard to work on them, alright? It’s challenging to be away from the monastery for me. And it’s been hard changing my perspective to try to do the new tasks.”

  “I…yeah. It’s hard for me also. So, how do you want to tackle this puzzle?”

  “That’s been part of what I’ve been thinking about for a while now. I know you said they were annoyed, but surely they’ve figured it out. Maybe if it’s before they’ve started smoking, they might be more forthcoming?”

  “It’s worth a shot. They were in a barn behind the first of the farmhouses. Let’s check there.” Upon examination, the barn was empty.

  “Maybe they’re out gathering their supplies. Would you recognize them on sight?”

  “Easily. They’ve got a scribe and a brawler build and look, but they didn’t bother upgrading from the beginner equipment.”

  “So, we separate, wander until we find them, then ask them how to solve it. Maybe offer something in trade.”

  “We could just try to find and solve the puzzle?”

  “Maybe. But this place is somewhere in between the size of the monastery and the city. It took me over a day to figure out how to identify and access the monastery puzzle, and it seems like it took two of you several days to figure out the city. So, if you want to wander around aimlessly, sure. But I’d rather finish this and get back to drinking at the monastery.”

  The feeling had built slowly, but Alastair realized that he generally didn’t like Galoots. Sure, she was generally fine to talk with, but her constant distraction and desire to drink beer all day was tenuous. If it hadn’t been for the assistance in finishing the monument so quickly, and there had been more options of people to party with, Alastair probably would have ditched her. But the lack of other players, and their open hostility, made him less inclined to spend more time in this simulation than necessary.

  “You look deep in thought,” she said. “Is it something I said?”

  “Just considering the options. I think you’re right. Let’s try to leverage those who have beaten this already. Let’s assume they smoke daily. They must get the supplies somewhere local. I don’t think it was a dried substance, so they’re getting it fresh.”

  “So, the gardens or somewhere out in the woods?”

  “Best places to look. If we don’t find them in, say, an hour, let’s meet back here,” said Alastair.

  “I’ll take the woods. I’ll text you if I see them.”

  Alastair gave a thumbs-up as he started to walk out of the barn. Galoots walked the same way. It was one of those awkward situations where you tell someone “chao” then you both go in the same direction. After they cleared the barn door, Galoots turned right and the awkwardness dispersed.

  Figuring that, if the substance was something that was cultivated, it would be either a flower or an herb, Alastair asked Farmer 1, different from his large friend from his previous visit, for directions to the gardens.

  “Well, which garden? There is a fruit garden, vegetable garden, flower garden, herb garden, butterfly garden, a rock garden, hothouse, rain garden, tea garden, and the winter garden.”

  “Can you point me to the flowers and the herb gardens?”

  “Yeah, flowers are over there,” said Farmer 1, pointing, “and the herb garden is behind it a little ways, but more to the east.”

  “Thanks. You haven’t happened to see a brawler and a scribe hanging out?”

  “Other than you and that brawler you came in with? There are the layabouts, but I haven’t seen them since the brekkie queue.”

  “Those layabouts are the ones I’m looking for. Well, thanks for your help.”

  The flower garden was a mess of color. One Farmer 0 worked through with a pair of pruning shears, examining each plant in turn. He had a bag on his back to add the clippings, although it didn’t seem very full. Although the garden spread pretty far out, it contained relatively low-lying plants, outside of a couple of stanchions holding up some hanging flowering plants. Alastair didn’t see the other two in his quick look. He decided to walk through the garden, regardless, because the colors and scents were pleasant.

  You could be reading stolen content. Head to Royal Road for the genuine story.

  The farmer called out to him, “Want to help me clip? I’ll pay five coins for each row you complete.”

  Alastair called back, “Thanks but I’ll pass for right now. I appreciate the offer and might take you up on it later.” From the flower garden, he could see what he thought was the herb garden, which seemed smaller than the flower garden by a bit, with rows of mounded soil and another farmer tending to them and pulling weeds along the way.

  That was that. They weren’t at the obvious locations. So maybe it was worthwhile to head through a couple of the other gardens. Which made the most sense? Hothouse or tea garden, maybe. But then again, it didn’t make any sense that the developers would code a marijuana-like substance into the game, either. Or maybe it did. Alastair didn’t know what international law might or might not say about such things, but it allowed for drinking and to the best of his knowledge there wasn’t a drinking age limitation like in so many places worldwide.

  Alastair saw a notification and pulled up his interface.

  Galoots - Alastair: I found them. They said the puzzle is in the butterfly garden. I’ll meet you there.

  Alastair - Galoots: How? Nevermind. OMW.

  The butterfly garden was close by where the fire had broken out the other day, down near the duck pond. Alastair had a rough direction of where that was related to where he was now. He took a moment to appreciate the lack of rain in this place - the constant morning and afternoon rain back in West Shilgrave wore him down. He wondered if progressing the day would result in the weather patterns changing. He looked out west, toward the direction of the city, and could see the large dark clouds in the distance.

  Thinking about it, he hadn’t looked at the landscape around him. He could see a bit of the monastery in the distance over the forest, and then further north watched as the cloud cover over the city seemed to continue up a bit of a mountain. He and Flor had climbed that mountain previously, a bit at least, when heading to look for the Mayor of W. Shilgrave as part of a search party. Some memory shook free in his head and he recalled a voice coming down from the Keep yelling about monsters. Perhaps he’d have to head there eventually, but didn’t think now was the time. The mountain continued down to more forest, and the sun was shining down on this side of the island. Something shiny caught his eye, but he wasn’t certain what it was although it reminded him of an obelisk. Beyond that, there was more ocean, which looked to be the extent of the island. If nothing else, it gave him a scope of the island’s size.

  As he walked toward the Butterfly garden, Alastair knew he would need another objective after completing this farm. Maybe that obelisk was his goal. Not for the first time he wished there was a legit tutorial. Playtests weren’t his thing. He preferred to complete most games with an online guide open on another screen, ready to scroll to find the solution to a tricky spot that he didn’t want to put the brainpower toward. Open exploration had its place, but objectiveless open exploration felt tedious.

  The Butterfly garden was a glass and metal square structure of about 100 meters to the side. There was seemingly one entrance, which, Alastair found out, had a secondary entrance, likely to keep the butterflies in. He thought it was a bit strange to have a closed butterfly garden when the garden and farms would likely benefit from the excess pollinators.

  Looking around, Alastair saw a wide amount of shades of green inset with pops of color throughout. He also occasionally saw a butterfly flitting around, but not nearly as many as he expected. He was also surprised to see Galoots talking with Farmer 2 while pointing to a set of pipes. The Farmer 2 pointed at something, and then Galoots went into a trance that Alastair considered must have been a bit of a puzzle. The Farmer 2 watched for a moment then began to wander away.

  Alastair called out to him, “Hey! Is my friend helping you fix something?”

  Farmer 2 nodded. “Yeah, there is a clogged pipe that she says she has experience fixing. Our mist system hasn’t worked for a few days.”

  “Oh, she’s great at working through puzzles.”

  “Well, I’ll let her get to it then. Come find me when you’re done and I’ll check it works.”

  The Farmer 2 wandered away to a tiny side room off the main room in a sort of shed.

  A moment later Galoots came out of the stare and looked at the pipes ahead of her. “That should do it. Now, the table should be available. Oh, Alastair. Sorry, I didn’t wait. The farmer called me over when he saw me enter. The interface table should now be available at the barn we were in previously. We’ll probably find Riff and Tapas there already.”

  “Oh. You made friends with them quickly.”

  “Yeah. Oddly I know them from Holst. Or at least by reputation.”

  “Reputation? What did they do?”

  “You can ask them later. They’ll come with us back to the monastery for a change of scenery.”

  “Oh. I was thinking that I was going to try to go onward after this.”

  “Onward how? Like to the monument or lighthouse?”

  “No. I’ll give Flor her space still. I saw an obelisk in the distance. I want to work toward that.”

  The barn was ahead of them, but Galoots had drawn up short. “Obelisk? I think that’s the tower.”

  “Am I supposed to know about that also?”

  “You seriously didn’t read or follow anything about this playtest before you went into it, did you?”

  Alastair shook his head no.

  “So, the supposed pinnacle location on the island is the Tower. It’s supposed to be impenetrable without meeting certain criteria, at least according to speculation. It wasn’t supposed to be a starting location, either. But I doubt you could get there. Let alone access it.”

  “Well, I think I saw it in the distance, and I’m going to go wander through the wilderness to see if I can get there.”

  “Do you mind if I don’t join you?”

  Alastair shook his head. “No, it’s fine. I’ll do this myself and let you know how it goes on chat.”